The Balance of Payments current account deficit (CAD) narrowed to US$1.3bn (0.2% of GDP) in Jan-Mar’23, slightly worse than our forecast (a surplus of 0.3% of GDP), primarily because higher repatriation of profits by foreign corporates widened the primary incomes deficit to US$12.6bn in Q4FY23 (from US$8.4bn in Q4FY22).
As per HVS Anarock, May’23 was another strong month with hotel industry RevPAR of Rs4,216 being 24% above May’19 (pre-Covid) levels and 13% above May’22 levels (Apr’23 RevPAR of Rs4,536 was 19% above Apr’22 levels). For May’23, industry ARR of Rs6,800 was up 16% YoY, while occupancy declined by 200bps YoY to 62%.